"Fuck!"

Purple Marquis glared at the Fire Goddess Battle Armor on the screen while uttering, "You give me a Cambrian piece of equipment, and you tell me it’s for females only? I… I… Do I really have to change my sex to wear this?"

Lin Yixin shot him a look. "Why are you acting like it’s the end of the world? I can wear it, can’t I?"

Purple Marquis moaned, "But guild leader… it’s Cambrian equipment…"

Lin Yixin pursed her lips. "I’ll give you 200k RMB for it!"

But Purple Marquis denied it immediately. "No way! My mom told me that I have to pay a betrothal gift when I marry, and betrothal gifts are worth at least 100k these days! Back in my village, there’s a guy whose childhood friend ran off with a coal boss exactly because he couldn’t afford it! It was such a shame! You gotta empathize with us lowly employees, guild leader…"

Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Fine, I’ll give you all 200k EUR of prize money for the Fire Goddess Battle Armor. Is that enough?"

Purple Marquis clapped his hands together. "It’s a deal!"

……

Below the stage, everyone was flabbergasted by the scene. A vice leader had just haggled his guild leader into giving up all her prize money for his item reward in public. It was bizarre. In hindsight, we should’ve known that a semi-finalist team’s interactions would be anything but ordinary.

That being said, Lin Yixin was definitely the one who profited more from this trade. 200k EUR seemed like a lot, but the Fire Goddess Battle Armor’s Defense was almost 3 times my Heaven-burning Armor’s. Once she equipped this armor, she would transform into a walking steel fortress with incredible armor penetration and unbreakable defenses. Only a handful of people in the entire world would be a match for her.

"That was a good trade for Beauty Lin…" Li Chengfeng said with a sigh.

Stranger of Three Lifetimes agreed. "Yeah, the Fire Goddess Battle Armor gives an insane amount of Magic Resist and Defense. She’s scary enough when she’s a glass cannon, and now she’s not even that any longer. The good news is she’s on our side. Warsky and Candlelight Shadow are the ones who need to watch out for her…"

Candlelight Shadow humphed once from his corner, and Blue Sky Scar immediately rose to his feet. A cup of red tea in his hand, he said, "You think a single battle dress can affect Candle Dragon? Hmph. In the future, Nation Wars will be decided by proper strategies and good logistics. You don’t think a single person can take an entire city, do you?"

Luo River God of the Capital chuckled. "Who knows? Will you admit you’re wrong if she does occupy a city single-handedly?"

"Hmph!"

Rose hurriedly stepped out and played the mediator before the conflict could break out in earnest, "Beauty Lin sure is a lucky girl, isn’t she? There’s only one Cambrian Divine Armament to be drawn for third and fourth place, and she got it in the end. I wonder what kind of prizes will be available for the champion? Lu Chen, everyone, please do your best. I want us to grab all the ultimate reward we can get from this competition, alright?"

I nodded. "No worries, Rose. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has top-tier karma!"

"Hehe. Good luck!"

Luck, huh. I wouldn’t count on it. If even someone like Beauty Lin could draw a useless shield, the same thing could happen to any of us. Lady Luck is a fickle lady after all.

……

After Snowy Cathaya and Cyan Beast got off the stage, it was time for the runner-up, Hero Alliance, to receive their prizes. A short while later, the rewards they got were displayed on the big display for everyone to see—

Vienna’s Sorrow: Black Ghost Battle Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★★)

Beethoven’s Joy: Hill God’s Spear (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★)

Da Vinci’s Code: Wings of the Martial God (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding, ★★★★★★)

Death Wish: Storm Queen’s Cloak (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★)

Moon Well: Fire God’s Spear (Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★)

……

Hero Alliance’s luck was neither too good nor too bad. They didn’t draw a Cambrian Divine Armament, but they didn’t draw low-grade equipment either. In fact, three of them drew Archean Immortal-grade items—which was the tier just below Divine Armaments—and some of their stats were equal to that of Cambrian Divine Armaments. All in all, the prizes were pretty awesome for a runner-up.

"The Knight of Stars got an Archean Immortal-grade spear!"

Li Chengfeng licked his lips greedily. "This Hill God’s Spear has way more Attack than my Augustus’ Spear. I bet his Attack will skyrocket when we meet him in a Nation War. Ah, I can’t wait. If I can, I will kill him and get him to drop his spear right now…"

I reassured him. "You’ll get your chance. The next Nation War is right around the corner. It’s about time you changed your main weapon anyway. A player like you doesn't deserve to wield a Heaven-grade spear."

Li Chengfeng laughed. "I know right!? Gui Guzi’s Spear of the Knight God is so much stronger than my weapon that he, a magic knight, almost has higher Attack than me! Dammit, Lu Chen, you should’ve given it to me instead! That bullheaded fool is just wasting its potential! Wait, is that it? We’re all brothers, but Gui Guzi is closer to you, huh? Huh?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You kidding me? You don’t have Knight God, and… personally, I think a sword suits you better. A nimble but powerful weapon like the sword fits a flexible, tactical-minded player like you better than the spear. When you get an Immortal-grade sword, I expect you to do twice or even thrice the amount of DPS you’re doing now."

Li Chengfeng smiled. "Okay! If you guys happen to draw a sword-type weapon that’s almost as good as the Purple Ying Sword, sell it to me. I’ll buy it with my 200k EUR."

I smiled. "Nah, half that amount is fine. I won’t let you become a certain vice leader who screws over his own guild leader…"

Purple Marquis immediately trembled, but Lin Yixin defended him and said, "What are you talking about? He’s just thinking about his wife, man…"

Next to us, Shadow Chanel turned as red as an apple, but looked like she really enjoyed the situation. Everyone knew that Purple Marquis was courting her, but she refused to give him a firm answer because she enjoyed their current state of relationship too much, namely being more than friends but less than lovers. We were all anxious for them.

……

"Well, it’s time for us to receive our prize. If you haven’t prayed to Lady Luck yet, do it now!" I said while rising to my feet.

As the girls rose to their feet, Murong Mingyue chirped happily, "Ai, I can’t believe I’m qualified for a prize even though I did nothing in this competition. I’m so happy…"

There was no particular order as to who would draw a prize first. So, Beiming Xue volunteered to be the first to receive her prize. She stood in front of the screen and scanned her retina. After her identity was confirmed, her character and her ID appeared on the display. The archer on the screen looked exactly identical to Beiming Xue. The only difference was their outfit.

When the wheel began spinning, Beiming Xue’s eyes immediately widened. "Do you guys see that? There’s a dragon-shaped reward in the pool! I don’t know what it is, but it has to be something good, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I see it. Do your best! If you can get it on the first try then why not?"

"Yeah!"

Beiming Xue tapped the confirm button, and the wheel slowed down. Unfortunately, the strip with dragon-shaped prize went past the needle all too quickly. There were almost a hundred prizes to be drawn from the pool, so to say that it took a considerable amount of luck to draw it was an understatement.

Ding! Beiming Xue’s reward appeared, and it was a ring that was glowing silver. Its body was shiny and translucent, and its head was shaped like a rose. The girl touched it gently, and its stats appeared on the big screens—

Purple Rose Divine Ring (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★)

Agility: +1190

Stamina: +1150

Strength: +1000

Intelligence: +1020

Passive: Increases user's ranged attack power by 40%

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 30%

Outstanding Property: Purple Rose Strike. 3% chance to summon the light of the purple rose and deal a critical hit to the target, also preventing them from using any skills for 5 seconds.

Level Requirement: 190

Reputation Requirement: 400000

……

I knew that our karma was good. Beiming Xue had drawn an excellent Archean Immortal-grade item on first try. The Purple Rose Divine Ring’s stats were amazing, but it was nothing compared to its Outstanding Property. Purple Rose Strike was practically a godlike effect in PvP. A 3% chance to activate and seal the opponent’s skills for 5 seconds was crazy considering Beiming Xue’s bow-flicking technique. Her average hit rate against the best players in the world was over 70%, and on average she could fire around 9 arrows—also the amount of arrows she could realistically hit when using Evil Spirit Volley—before needing to take a different action. This meant that she had around 24% chance to seal her opponent’s skills for 5 seconds per assault! That’s absolutely terrifying!

Beiming Xue could barely stop herself from grinning from ear to ear. She pulled Lian Xin’s arm and said, "Come here, Lian Xin, it’s your turn now! Go get a Divine Armament, okay?"

Lian Xin giggled. "I’m not that lucky. I’ll be satisfied with equipment I can use or even just some spare change…"

"Mn mn!"

Just like Beiming Xue, Lian Xin confirmed her identity and pressed the confirm button quickly. A short while later, a light purple skill book appeared on the screen, and its stats caused all our jaws to hit the floor—

Frozen Domain: At the cost of 50% MP, freeze all enemy targets within a 10x10 yard square around the user with 100% accuracy for 7 seconds. The user is invulnerable during the skill’s duration. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 180. Class Requirement: Mage.

……

Everyone was stunned. It was the ultimate skill every mage dreamed of getting. Not only did it freeze all enemies around the caster in ice, the caster themselves couldn’t be attacked during this time. It was like activating an invincibility skill, except this one could be cast every 60 seconds! It was a godlike skill in any PvP battle!

If Lian Xin had this skill earlier, she might’ve been able to maintain a perfect win record like me. She could go up against God of War himself and maintain over 50% win ratio!

"Well, it’s my turn now…"

He Yi went next. She watched the screen for a bit before tapping the confirm button with determination. Again, she wasn’t lucky enough to draw the dragon-shaped reward, but the needle stopped at a crimson black sword with a pitch black blade and a bloody hue!